Every day people in Reading average around 62,000 bus journeys a day in the town.

But other than saying hello and thank you to the driver (and let's be honest some people don't even do that) a passenger has very little of a connection with Reading Buses.

In an attempt to change that getreading was invited behind the scenes at the company's office and bus depot in Great Knollys Street in central Reading to find out what an almost invisible army of people do to make sure the town keeps moving.

Road works and Tom Cruise gadgets

The control room, presided over by operations manager Dan Bassett is the heart of the depot.

It was given an overhaul in 2013 and, by Dan's own admission, brings to mind films like The Minority Report. The back wall of the control room is completely covered in large flat-screens showing live video feeds from the town centre and in the middle of the room is a huge touch-screen map showing roadworks.

Operations manager Dan Bassett in the control room

The team measures whether a bus is running to schedule in two ways. The frequent buses which run every 10 minutes or better are measured by maintaining the gaps rather than by time. The non-frequent services which run less than every 10 minutes are flagged up in red if they are behind schedule. When we visit there are nine buses delayed which we’re told is good for that time of day.

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Behind the scenes

Dan was also very keen to talk about the 'DriveWell' Mix Telematics system which measures how economic and safe the driving is by monitoring any sharp accelerating and breaking. The aim is to reduce the number of accidents and fuel consumption.

Martijn said: “It’s a new concept for us, based on a red, amber, green system to show who is delivering the best results and smoother, safer driving.

“It needs us to role model the green drivers and make the other drivers see it’s achievable.”

Dan added: “Then when we get to the point where all the drivers are green we can reevaluate and raise the bar to make our drivers even safer.”

Will, an engineering apprentice, finding a wiper motor to repair a broken bus on the road

Also working in the control room are Brian (the duty manager) and Ray (network supervisor) who, while we were talking, got a radio message through from a bus in Wokingham which needed an engineer. It was raining and the wiper motor needed replacing.

As if by magic John Bickerton, chief engineer, shows up to take us into the workshop where apprentice Will is getting ready to drive the support van to the broken bus in Wokingham. But before he gets a chance to leave he gets a call saying it has stopped raining and the bus will make it back to the depot where he will be able to fix it.

Lost property and complaints

Jayne, the customer champion, runs customer service alongside two others who help her respond to any query, complaint or cry for help finding lost property.

There are an average of 62,000 customer journeys a day on the Reading Buses service so it’s a big task for the small team.

Customers can get in touch by phone, email, posting through the site, Twitter, Facebook, writing or the Bus Shop in Broad Street Mall and every complaint is fully researched using the bus’ CCTV to either follow up the matter with the driver or advise the customer there will be no action.

Jayne in the customer services department

The team also spends a lot of time tracking down lost property, some as soon as a passenger has stepped off the bus. There are so many lost items Reading Buses can only keep it for four weeks after which suitable items are donated to charity.

Cleaning and fixing

Back in the workshop John gives myself and photographer Pete high-vis jackets and hard-hats before taking us a tour of the pits where several buses are being worked on.

One was having its cam belt replaced by Will while another needed some bodywork done after a collision with another vehicle – not the bus company’s fault they were quick to say!

Behind the Scenes at Reading Buses.

Every night the buses are brought back to the depot where they are refuelled, put through the giant bus wash and then parked in strict orderly fashion. There will soon be no room in the yard for any more buses. Once they are parked every bus is swept and every other is mopped, alternating which ones get the deeper clean every night.

The buses are out on the roads from 18 to 20 hours a day and reliability of them is up by 50 per cent on last year, the average age of a Reading Bus is 4.5 years - one of the youngest fleets of buses in the country.

Going through the bus wash

To keep this up the buses are inspected every six weeks alongside a check sheet - if there are any issues these are flagged up on the sheet and the work is then done and signed off. The depot also inspects the Rail Air Coaches on behalf of the other travel company - this is done every two weeks as they travel much longer distances.

Posters, training and food

In the admin department met Mick and Luke in the training department who tell me each driver, after their licence test, must complete 35 hours of classroom training every five years, they do one seven-hour day per year and every year the theme changes. Later we step into a classroom to see one of the training sessions in action.

Gary, who is in charge of all the bus stop displays, wasn't in his office when we stopped by by we had a little nosey around. He's been there for a long time so there are lots of old posters you'd only recognised if you've lived in Reading for the last 20 years or more.

An old bus poster in Gary's office

Gary started his career at Reading Buses as a driver and so often visits dementia care homes with an imitation bus stop and talks to patients - the routine of sitting at a bus stop is familiar to the residents.

Next up was the canteen - cleverly named Bus Fare although apparently many haven't cottoned on to why!

The dining hall offers jacket potatoes, sandwiches and one hot main per day which is advertised the week before but the company is currently holding a consultation into selling some more healthy options.

Jake told me the café has gone from strength to strength over the last four years after the town centre canteen was closed. He said it was given a new lease of life by workers Linda and Sharon who built up a great rapport with all the staff - they’ve just been rewarded their five star food hygiene rating on a surprise inspection.